AHL Devils making adjustment to Binghamton

Connection to Albany lingers on as team adjusts to new locale

1of42The former Albany Devils have moved to Binghamton.2of42The American Hockey League's Devils are in their first seasons in Binghamton after a seven-year stay in Albany. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)3of42Head coach Rick Kowalsky, left, talks with assistant coach Sergei Brylin behind the Binghamton Devils bench. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)4of42Inside the 4,897-seat Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, home of the American Hockey League's Binghamton Devils. (Pete Dougherty/Times Union)5of42Inside the 4,897-seat Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, home of the American Hockey League's Binghamton Devils. (Pete Dougherty/Times Union)6of42Inside the 4,897-seat Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, home of the American Hockey League's Binghamton Devils. (Pete Dougherty/Times Union)7of42Inside the 4,897-seat Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, home of the American Hockey League's Binghamton Devils. (Pete Dougherty/Times Union)8of42Blake Pietila played most of his first two pro seasons in Albany before the AHL Devils moved southwest to Binghamton. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)9of42Head coach Rick Kowalsky, left, and his assistant Sergei Brylin were in Albany together before the AHL Devils made their move to Binghamton. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)10of42Blake Pietila played most of his first two pro seasons in Albany before the AHL Devils moved southwest to Binghamton. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)11of42Ben Thomson played most of his first three pro seasons in Albany before the AHL Devils moved southwest to Binghamton. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)12of42Ben Thomson played most of his first three pro seasons in Albany before the AHL Devils moved southwest to Binghamton. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils)13of42Members of the Binghamton Devils stand for the national anthem before a game at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. (JustSports Photography / Binghamton Devils) Keep clicking for other sports teams that didn't last in the Capital Region.14of42Due to a lawsuit filed against the Arena Football League, the Albany Empire and the league's five other franchises had to close local business operations. Click through the slideshow to see other professional sports franchises that couldn't stick in the Capital Region.James Franco15of42Albany River Rats: The Rats gave hockey in Albany firm footing at the then-Knickerbocker Arena starting in 1993, forming from the former Capital District Islanders, a three-year-old AHL franchise that played at RPI.CINDY SCHULTZ16of42Albany River Rats: Pro hockey in Albany peaked in 1995, when the River Rats won the Calder Cup.TOM LAPOINT17of42Albany River Rats: Years of poor play and poor attendance jeopardized the Rats' viability, and eventually the team was sold and moved to Charlotte, N.C. following the 2009-10 season.LMF/ALBANY TIMES UNION18of42Adirondack Red Wings: Before the Rats staked their claim in Albany, the Red Wings were the Capital Region's AHL team, calling the Glens Falls Civic Center home from 1979 through 1999.STACEY LAUREN/DG19of42Adirondack Red Wings: The Red Wings won four Calder Cups in Glens Falls -- 1981, 1996, 1989 and 1992 -- but ownership said it had lost money over its last 10 years. STACEY LAUREN/DG20of42Adirondack Phantoms: After the Adirondack Frostbite's brief stint in the United Hockey League, a region regained a second AHL team in 2009. The Philadelphia Flyers moved their AHL affiliate to Glens Falls following the demolition of Philadelphia's Wachovia Stadium.John Carl D'Annibale21of42Adirondack Phantoms: The Phantoms then moved back to Pennsylvania when a new stadium opened up in Allentown.John Carl D'Annibale22of42Adirondack Flames: After the Phantoms left, the Flames moved their AHL affiliate to Glens Falls for the 2014-15 season. Afterward, the parent club moved the Flames to Stockton, Calif., with the Glens Falls receiving the ECHL's Thunder in return.Michael P. Farrell23of42Albany Choppers: The International Hockey League infiltrated the Northeast when the owner of the Fort Wayne Komets moved into Albany's new Knickerbocker Arena, with Price Chopper buying in as a minority partner. Justin Veldhuis24of42Albany Choppers: The Choppers shuttered before the end of its inaugural season, losing the battle for the hockey market to the Capital District Islanders, the Adirondack Red Wings, as well as RPI's strong college hockey program.Cindy Schultz25of42Albany Legends: The International Basketball LEague moved in when the CBA folded, setting up shop at the Armory in 2010. The Legends won the championship in their first season, but economic realities soon set in.Hans Pennink/Times Union26of42Albany Legends: The Legends tried to cut costs by moving from the Armory to CBA's gym in Colonie, but the franchise folded after a couple more seasons and a move to Schenectady.Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union27of42Albany Firebirds: The Albany Firebirds enjoyed a successful run from 1900 to 2000. Attendance peaked in 1995 with an average of 12,240 fans.TOM LAPOINT/DG28of42Albany Firebirds: The Firebirds won the ArenaBowl in 1999, but relocated to Indianapolis after the 2000 season. Ownership cited declining attendance (9,872 in their final season) and a lack of major corporate sponsorship, which put them at a disadvantage in a growing league featuring major markets.MICHAEL P. FARRELL/DG29of42Albany Conquest: Filling in the void left by the Firebirds, the af2 (the Arena Football League's developmental league) granted Albany an expansion team for the 2002 season.JAMES GOOLSBY/DG30of42Albany Conquest: The Conquest started strong with two 13-win seasons, but five consecutive losing years put their viability on the ropes.JAMES GOOLSBY/DG31of42Albany Firebirds: The Conquest changed to the Firebirds for their final season in 2009 in an attempt to capture former glory.John Carl D'Annibale/Times Union32of42Albany Firebirds: The Firebirds made the playoffs in their final season, but folded after a 78-21 loss in the first round. But no af2 team submitted the paperwork to return, and the league was dissolved after the 2009 season.LORI VAN BUREN/TIMES UNION/TIMES UNION33of42Albany-Colonie Yankees: After two seasons as the Oakland A's affiliate at Heritage Park, the Albany-Colonie franchise became the Double-A Eastern League affiliate in 1985. 34of42Albany-Colonie Yankees: Stadium issues eventually led to the end of the A-C Yankees after the 1994 season, but they lasted long enough to host Derek Jeter (third from right) and other key members of the 1990s Yankee dynasty.35of42Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs: The Diamond Dogs of the independent Northeast and Northern Leagues filled the pro-baseball void at Heritage Park starting in 1995 following the departure of the Yankees MICHAEL P. FARRELL/DG36of42Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs: The Diamond Dogs won the Northern League Championship over Winnipeg in 1999, but once affiliated minor-league baseball returned to the Capital Region in the form of the Tri-City ValleyCats in 2002, the Diamond Dogs' days were soon numbered.JEFF DE BIIY/DG37of42New York Buzz: Founded in 1995, the Capital Region's World Team Tennis franchise originally played its home games at Schnectady's Central Park, and originally under different names. It opened as the New York OTBzz (sponsored by Off-Track Betting), then changed to the Schenectady County Electrics for the 1999 season.JONATHAN FICKIES/DG38of42New York Buzz: After 13 seasons in Central Park, the Buzz moved indoors to Albany, bringing stars like Serena Williams to the Washington Avenue Armory and SEFCU Arena.PHILIP KAMRASS/DG39of42New York Sportimes: The Buzz merged with the New York Sportimes in 2011, relegating the Capital Region to just two WTT matches a year in 2011 and 2012, with the other five home games on Randall's Island in New York. That balance flipped in 2013, but the team moved to San Diego afterward.CINDY SCHULTZ/ALBANY TIMES UNION40of42Albany Attack: The Pepsi Arena hosted Albany's National Lacrosse League franchise from 2000 through 2003.PHILIP KAMRASS/DG41of42Albany Attack: The Attack reached the championship game in 2002, which it lost to Toronto. The success didn't affect the draw, and low attendance was cited as the reason for the team's move to San Jose in 2003. JONATHAN FICKIES/DG42of42Albany Alleycats: The most recent attempt at professional soccer in the Capital Region, the Alleycats of the United Soccer Leagues met the same fate as the Capitals, Eagles and the Indoor Soccer League's New York Kick, folding after competing from 1995 to 1998. One year as the New York Capital District Shockers in the USL PDL didn't help.JAMES GOOLSBY/DG

Binghamton

You can take the Devils out of Albany, but you can't take all of Albany out of the Devils.

When the Albany Devils left town last spring, the state capital was without an American Hockey League franchise for the first time since 1993-94, the inaugural season of the River Rats.

They are now the Binghamton Devils, sporting the same NHL affiliation (New Jersey) and coaching staff, and some of the same players. A few Albany fans are even making the 140-mile trek down I-88 to be with them.

At a team outing earlier this month at Tioga Downs, a casino-driven harness-racing track about 30 miles west of here, the gathering wasn't limited to Broome County residents.

"We saw 10-15 season-ticket holders from Albany make the trip," said Ben Thomson, a Devils forward who played his first three pro seasons in Albany. "You see a lot of familiar faces that make the trip, go to a lot of games. That's not lost on us."

One of those Albany fans was Andrew Cowan, a Glenmont resident. He and his wife were Devils season-ticket holders for the past decade or so, and they ponied up again this season when the team moved to Binghamton.

"We know the guys pretty well," Cowan said. "We followed them, then we follow them when they go to the NHL, as well. We met a lot of guys that way."

Cowan admitted that "I don't like going down there. It's a long ride. We miss Albany. We were 10 minutes from the arena."

Albany's loss has been Binghamton's gain, although both cities have lost franchises before.

The River Rats departed in 2010 after 17 seasons in Albany, replaced by the Devils, who had been in Lowell, Mass. Binghamton lured the Devils to replace the Senators, who moved their AHL operations to Belleville, Ontario, after 15 seasons here. The Southern Tier city has been home to five other pro teams.

"I know it was a tough pill to swallow," said a sympathetic Tom Mitchell, Binghamton's executive vice president of operations. "I remember when the Rangers left Binghamton (in 1997), that was tough for the local fans to swallow. We didn't have much control over that. That's sports, I guess."

Attendance in Binghamton is up slightly, although the team is limited by the 4,897-seat capacity of the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The Devils have averaged 3,810 through 26 home dates, up 4 percent from what the Senators drew in 2016-17, and 29 percent higher than the 2,949 the Devils got in their final season in the 14,236-seat Times Union Center.

What is unique about the Binghamton situation is that a local group, headed by Mitchell, runs the business operations, while the New Jersey Devils still own the franchise. New Jersey handled all aspects of AHL Devils when they were in Albany.

New Jersey president Hugh Weber said last spring that the Albany operation suffered "multi-seven-figure" losses. It is hard to imagine a city half of Albany's size will do much better, and those losses will be absorbed by Binghamton and Broome County, not the NHL owners.

"Before," said Mitchell, whose involvement with the AHL in Binghamton goes back to 1985, "we paid an affiliation to Ottawa. Now we pay an operating fee to New Jersey. We're talking about the same kind of money."

The prospect of potential financial losses seems to be offset by the need to have a viable sports franchise downtown.

"You're never going to get rich in this," said Mitchell, who was a minority owner of the Binghamton Senators. "We sold the franchise (to Ottawa) for more than we paid for it, but on an operating basis, you're not going to make a ton of money. This is a huge asset for this community. It's a big fish in a small pond instead of the other way around. People appreciate that. People around here take the hockey team pretty seriously."

Effects of the relocation can be far-reaching. Albany fans have no team. Binghamton fans try to align themselves with a new set of players.

"The first month," Thomson said, "we had a team golf tournament with a lot of the sponsors. They were all talking about how they loved the Binghamton Rangers back then, and it's going to be hard for them to cheer for the Devils because now they're Rangers fans. There are a lot of Senators fans, when they won the Calder Cup here a few years ago. When they come back it's a little bit of mixed emotions."

The players have had to make adjustments, finding new places to live during the season, figuring out the best places to eat. In Albany, they left behind a locker room and training facilities that many regarded as NHL-caliber.

"The locker room, coming in, we had heard that it wasn't great," said forward Blake Pietila, who spent the two previous seasons in Albany, "but they've redone some things, but it's nice to come to the rink every day with the facilities there. Nobody's had any complaints."

The doors leading to the locker room of the Binghamton Devils have both the AHL and NHL teams' logos. (Pete Dougherty/Times Union)

On the ice, things haven't been Zamboni-smooth. Despite a current four-game winning streak, the B-Devils entered the weekend with the AHL's worst record (17-27-9) and the second-fewest goals (127). This was a team that made the playoffs in three of their final four years in Albany.

Only four of the Devils' top 20 scorers from last season — Pietila, Jacob MacDonald, Kevin Rooney and Jan Mandat — are on Binghamton's current roster.

Familiar names such as Rod Pelley, Carter Camper, Joe Blandisi, Vojtech Mozik, Karl Stollery and Scott Wedgewood are gone. Some are in the NHL. Others changed teams via trades or free agency. Several went to Europe.

"It's been an interesting year, on the ice and off the ice," said Rooney, who played 71 games as a rookie in Albany last season. "There's been that adjustment period for the organization coming here to Binghamton. You've seen that a little bit on the ice.

"We're a young team this year, a lot different. Last year we had a lot of good leaders on our team — Rod Pelley, Andrew MacWilliam, Carter Camper — and those guys helped the young guys. This year there's a lot more young guys who are still learning how to be a pro and how to play well in this league. You've seen that a little bit with our record."

Perhaps no one is missed more than Pelley, who had just 13 points in 71 games last season but was captain for four years.

"It was more an organizational decision to move on," Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said of Pelley, who is now with the AHL's Stockton Heat. "From a coaching staff and internally, we know how well-respected he is, but from a management side, not living it every day, you don't see it. We didn't necessarily think he was going to be maybe as big of a loss as we feel he is now, because a lot of these young guys knew him and respected him."

More Information

Binghamton hockey history

Pro hockey history of Binghamton (* - North American Hockey League, † - United Hockey League, others American Hockey League)

1973 - 1977: Broome Dusters*

1977 - 1980: Binghamton Dusters

1980 - 1990: Binghamton Whales

1990 - 1997: Binghamton Rangers

1997 - 2002: B.C. Icemen†

2002 - 2017: Binghamton Senators

2017 - present: Binghamton Devils

Empty seats

Whether in the Times Union Center, with a hockey capacity of 14,236, or the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, with its 4,897 seats, pro hockey in Albany and Binghamton has consistently ranked in the lower half of league attendance.

AlbanyBinghamton

SeasonAverageAHL rankAverageAHL rank

2017-18--3,81024th

2016-172,94930th of 303,66629th

2015-163,36628th of 303,81227th

2014-153,32327th of 303,77324th

2013-143,36027th of 303,93624th

2012-133,86027th of 303,55929th

2011-123,43530th of 303,57828th

2010-113,11430th of 303,65228th

2009-103,75125th of 293,62928th

2008-093,53926th of 293,91722nd

2007-083,94024th of 294,06923rd

2006-073,96622nd of 273,88723rd

2005-064,02522nd of 274,04521st

2004-053,70328th of 284,63320th

2003-043,45428th of 284,30622nd

2002-033,72627th of 284,03825th

2001-023,86726th of 272,9389th of 14*

2000-013,61518th of 202,8738th of 14*

1999-004,50315th of 192,96211th of 13*

1998-994,59011th of 193,0734th of 11*

1997-984,58413th of 183,0234th of 10*

1996-975,03110th of 184,01815th

1995-966,1015th of 184,14911th

1994-955,4847th of 164,19010th

1993-943,5269th of 163,9158th

* From 1997 to 2002, Binghamton played host to the B.C. Icemen of the now-defunct United Hockey League.

Kowalsky, who coached the Devils for all seven of their seasons in Albany, is the senior member of the AHL team. When the organization decided to relocate, Kowalsky, 45, kept his family — wife Deb, two sons and a daughter — in Delmar, where they have become part of the school and hockey community.

He makes the trip back home once a week to see his family.

"It's not to say things won't change in the future, but the timing of it made sense," Kowalsky said. "My wife's done a great job. The kids have been good. There's no question that it was the right decision. We've got a great support of friends and hockey and school people. It has worked as good as it could, I guess."

Pete Dougherty has been with the paper since 1986 and is currently the beat reporter for the University at Albany basketball teams and Albany Empire of the Arena Football League. He is a columnist on sports media, golf and bowling, and coordinator for the Times Union's high school football video highlight packages.

He's a native of Bradford, Pa., proud graduate of Penn State and a voter for the Heisman Trophy and the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame.